


Don't Need Them to Believe (In You)

by cledritch



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Awkward Flirting, Boys Being Boys, Civilian Winwin, Fic Exchange, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Gift Fic, M/M, Matchmaking, Superhero! Taeil, Supervillains, Taeil's a sweetheart, Villains, Winwin is not that Oblivious, hidden identities, the names are ridiculous i know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 18:10:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13552803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cledritch/pseuds/cledritch
Summary: There's a conspiracy that he's with the bad guys. Except he didn't get the memo the bad guys are playing cupid.





	Don't Need Them to Believe (In You)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Superhero by Simon Curtis.

Moon Taeil felt his eye twitching.

The warehouse is stuffy, smelling of rust and decay. The dust had caught onto his costume more times than he can count by now as he pressed his body to the crates to stay hidden. He has gotten used to his black get up after two years of working as a vigilante for justice but he still doesn’t like the feeling of it clinging to his skin when the surroundings were humid. Even his hair has stuck to his scalp as a bad case of superhero cowl hairdo.

But he wanted to save people and the costume is honestly the least of his worries.

“You finally came, Strony but do you really think you can go past my minions?” Any other day, he would have made some quip that Blizzard is just rehashing old lines from villains of the comic books but he’s tired.

“Can we get this over with?” he scowled, hands waving because this was just overboard “Don’t you have anything else to do than kidnap the same guy?”

The ice men that Blizzard had made, towering over him and smashing their fist on the ground let out a howl. Blizzard had stood on top of crates stacked together, holding some poor soul he recognized as the same boy from three weeks ago. He doesn’t have to get closer to see the bored look on his face and Taeil can relate to be honest.

Blizzard laughed, hand over the boy’s neck tightening as the later gasped “You’re not going to win this time!”

Taeil clenched his fists, stance ready. He doesn’t waste time for banter as the ice men charged at him, punching down as he barrel rolled backwards. The ice men came after him. They surrounded him as they came from all directions but he crouched down because their wide legs really were a bad style choice. Taeil charged underneath it, shooting a boomerang upwards to hit two of them at the same time. It recoiled, hitting another and swung across Blizzard’s head before he yelled “Duck!” The boy did so, Blizzard getting the impact as he toppled down with a crash.

Taeil grabbed the boy’s hand, shooting out a smoke bomb. It detonated as the wisps of black overcoming their sight. Taeil pressed the button of his visor, turning on his special specs as he gestured the boy to move to the exit. The minute the smoke touched the alarm, loud sirens blared as Blizzard shrieked when he saw his ice mean melting.

The superhero threw another detonating boomerang at the door, blasting it open as he helped the boy get through the debris.

“I’ll get you for this, Strony!”

Taeil and the boy are too far away to hear him anyways so they can’t see the sly smile that had overcome his face. Blizzard took out his communicator and sent a winky face to a group chat before he summoned ice paths to skate on. Their plan was moving perfectly.

 

On the other side of town, Taeil gave the boy a whistle.

“What is this for?” he asked in an amused tone, pretty eyes sparkling despite the dimness of the light. Taeil isn’t really the type to give favoritism yet he also wants to see this boy not be dragged into some bullshit the super villains have cooked up for him. It’s been a week after he got first kidnapped, Taeil helping him out of the psychedelic illusion Dreamcatcher had induced and battling the moths that he summoned before he got to him. It’s unusual really because whenever he fought with them, they don’t really like taking prisoners. They were more interested in stealing jewels and bombing banks, Dreamcatcher once saying that people were distasteful and he didn’t want anything to do with them.

So it was a shock to see him with a body strapped to a steel table.

He stared at this boy now, blonde hair sticking to his forehead and sweat on his lashes. Taeil isn’t really one to talk when he can feel sweat making his costume stick uncomfortably again. The warehouse was near the sea after all like all villains wanted their hidden activities to happen and the humidity was a nightmare. But he is cute. In a schoolboy way especially with his uniform that he realized is from the All-Boy’s School across his college. Taeil flushed when he both realized he must be quite young, a little too young if he dwelled too much and that his staring was caught.

The boy smirked “Well? Is it for perverts? I’ll blow it right now then.”

Taeil almost shrieked “No! I mean,” he took a breath to calm himself down and waved his hands in an X motion “It’s for safety. If you blow on it, it will alert me when you are in danger.”

The smile on the boy’s lips is distracting, plush pink lips with traces of being bitten down on and Taeil is really coming down dangerous territory “Can I try?”

There’s no answer as those pretty lips pursed around the end of the silver whistle, blowing lightly as a window popped out of Taeil’s visor and showing the location of where they were. Taeil smiled, giving thumbs up but the boy is still looking at him with those doe eyes and his lips are in a pout now.

“Be safe. You all set to walk home?” He doesn’t know why his voice shakes. The visor is helpful enough not to reflect that he’s blushing up a storm.

The boy turned with a wave, hips swaying with every step that has Taeil mesmerized. “I’m no damsel. See you around, Strony.”

Taeil belatedly realized that he didn’t get to ask his name.

He scaled the apartment buildings back to his school, dressing back into his casual clothes in the abandoned pool’s locker room. It’s almost midnight and he really wished these bad guys would have consideration for his 7 AM class to schedule their evil deeds earlier. Then again, his professors were slowly getting wind of him ditching some hours when duty called him. He can’t get a break, can he?

 After stashing his costume into the hidden compartment of a busted locker, he combed his hair before he hit his head on the surface of the large mirror.

“This is the loneliness making me like someone I barely know.” He told his reflection. There’s grime stuck on his cheek. He should wash his costume soon before he caught something from it. No amount of superhuman genes would make him that careless. He went to the only functioning sink to wash his face, dragging his hand across his face in resignation.

“What day was it today?” He muttered, fixing his jacket collar and making sure his hair was okay. Johnny would ask him why his hair looked like it was mowed down and he doesn’t want to deal with that.

Taeil hauled the bag he left on one of the benches over his shoulder. He goes through his list of things he needed for his experiments, narrowing down the words he can tell Johnny on where he went and the boy’s face flashed for a second before he shook his head.

“I need to sleep.”

 

Maniacal laughter echoed through the street, the sounds of bombs going off and debris flying in all directions filling the normal Sunday morning. The streets smelled like gunpowder and smoke and more dynamite littered the lamp posts, blowing up every five seconds. There’s a streak of maroon running down the street and jumping on cars before they blew up that threw more dynamite to put holes on the concrete.

Taeil wished he didn’t actually wash his costume when it was just going to get dirty again.

He backpedaled off the pedestal of the supermarket, landing on one of the destroyed posts and caught sight of Whiplash, shock of white hair distinct amidst the fire and smoke. He’s strapped with explosives, green pants with pockets housing even more and his black boots were like an automatic switch for his bombs to go off.

“This is the reckoning!” Whiplash screeched just as Taeil jumped off his perch to kick him at the side of his head, toppling him to the right. He landed on one of the cars, fists on his hips. Whiplash scowled up at him, hand rubbing his jaw.

Taeil took out his canister, pushing a button to turn it into a steel spear “You’re really pushing this.”

The villain let out a howl of laughter, grabbing a canister of his own that turned to a spiked whip “Oh, please~ I’m hitting the right buttons!” he roared, cracking his whip and Taeil jumped. Only to realize that it wasn’t him the other was trying to hit but the pile of explosives underneath.

A resounding boom as Taeil flew a few meters away, cheek hitting the ground and his senses flared before he dodged in time for the whip to not hit him. He got back on his feet, swinging his staff around before thrusting it at Whiplash who held it with his hand. Taeil kicked him in return as he caught the whip thrown at him, the sleek weapon wrapping around his staff and threw it out of reach. Whiplash dug out a small grenade, almost pulling the lock before Taeil swept his staff under him. He fell flat on his back, grenade rolling away and Taeil barely registered the beeping in his visor and the self-satisfied smile Whiplash had as he raised the lock looped around his finger.

Taeil ran after the grenade, edge of vision spying a figure and made split-second decision to grab the person by the waist. He toppled over them as they made refuge behind the car, caging him with his body as the grenade exploded into a mushroom cloud of black smoke. Whiplash’s laughter started again before he’s cut off and started choking on something.

“For someone who likes explosives, he has a bad case of asthma.” The person beneath him quips, shaking from laughter and Taeil notices how familiar the sound of the voice is.

He almost jumped back, moving at a respectable distance as he stared at the same boy from last week. Between his work in the local paper as an intern and his thesis about the effects of nuclear experimentation being the hindrance to curing cancer, Taeil had almost forgotten the cute boy. He looked cuter if it was possible, hair swept over his forehead and dressed in pajama top with his washed-out jeans that were covered in dirt and wood from rolling on the ground.

“I’m sorry, uh, for your clothes. Whiplash isn’t usually this unhinged.” He confessed. He doesn’t really know why he’s defending Whiplash but he is. The guy may like his explosives but he usually does it by traps and scattering hidden bombs that would be set off when Taeil did an action that goes against the game Whiplash made. He’s playful really and the most surprising thing is that he isn’t wearing his gas mask, white teeth bared whenever he smiled maniacally.

“Guess this Strony whistle worked then.” The boy brandished the silver whistle that hung from a chain around his neck. Taeil’s eyes accidentally wandered to the collar of shirt where his collarbones were peeking and blushed.

“Good,” he said lamely then repeated it a little too loud. He’s nervous again and then ruffled his hair, reaching up because he’s kind of taller than him “Be safe, kid.”

If the boy smiled like that, eyes turning to crescents and plush lips curving like he knew something secret between them, Taeil might just faint soon. He looked down, the cord of an ID catching his attention and caught the first letters of a name. Seeing this, the boy smiled wider “Just call me Sicheng.”

Taeil chuckled nervously, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck “I didn’t mean to pry-“

“I don’t mind if it’s you.”

It’s by instinct that Taeil hid his face with his hands. Sicheng’s tinkling laugh is only making his head lighter, unsure if it’s the adrenalin waning or the smoke getting the best of him. “Is Whiplash gone?” the latter asked, suddenly serious and Taeil’s head whipped back to where the super villain was. The white-haired maniac is gone; all that’s left is the huge circle of soot where he once stood. The two of them stared at each other and Taeil offered to walk him back to his dorm. They started at a pace, Taeil walking a few steps behind to scout the perimeter before he collided with the boy again who is looking at him as if he’s insane.

He made a noise at the back of his throat when they’re walking side by side, shoulders’ bumping now and then. “I swear there’s something bigger here,” he muttered to himself as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully “Not just him but it’s been three instances now…If there’s a fourth-“

“What is it?”

Taeil jolted at the touch on his shoulder, smiling sheepishly at Sicheng who has a worried look on his face. “Oh,” he exhaled the breath he didn’t know he was holding and touching his chest to feel his heart still beating too fast at how close they are “You probably need to be careful. They’re all after you for some reason.”

The corner of Sicheng’s lips quirked “What’s so special about me?”

There’s a list that Taeil would happily supply but he just shrugged. Super villains never really care about a specific civilian unless they are part of the grander scheme of things: A company CEO’s family, a scientist formulating a serum that is harmful to humanity or maybe, in worse case scenarios, a hero’s loved one once they discovered their identity. The thought drained all the good humor in Taeil as he looked at Sicheng. It isn’t because of that, right? It’s their third meeting and while he is attracted to him, it’s not enough for him to be attacked left and right. They would have hastened their plot with Sicheng being the casualty and Taeil is scared, eyes drifting to the silver whistle. Is it really a good idea to make him so accessible when it would harm Sicheng?

Taeil shook his head. “Unless you have some secret you want to confess, I’d think they’re doing this to spite me.”

Sicheng rolled his eyes “I’m a clean cut university student who likes walking at dawn to get some ramyun. I doubt that makes me an easy target.” He said matter-of-factly, hands at the side of his hips.

“Are you sure? No skeletons in your closet?” He’s curious really, nothing else. Taeil wants to know more to solve this mystery and not because he wants to get to know him more than just assumptions.

There’s a sparkle in his eyes and Taeil is a little more intrigued. “Unless the time I made the principal shred all the paper works so he couldn’t show my parents my report card count?”

Their talk lasted for a while, Sicheng sharing snippets of himself and his life. He’s from China, an exchange student for a dance program. He’s working on a double major in dance and statistics, citing that he’s been dancing since he was a little boy and math always came easy for him. Taeil gave him small impersonal replies, agreeing about how math is life and that yes, he is older than Sicheng. Somehow along the way, Sicheng started calling him Math-hyung as he divulged that his real name is Dong Sicheng with a flash of his ID. He can call him Winwin because that’s what his friends do but Taeil relishes the way Sicheng’s foreign name rolled off his tongue.

Taeil had difficulty leaving Sicheng at the gate as the other boy waved back before he disappeared into his building. The words “You’ve helped me home twice now. Feels like a messed up date, to be honest. See you” ringing in his ears.

His dreams have Sicheng in them now, joy.

 

Johnny is nudging him out of his nap, smiling down at the elder as if he doesn’t see the bags become more prominent under his eyes or the line of drool at the corner of his mouth. Taeil’s been hunched over his laptop for the last 48 hours editing the grammar of one of the TAs who needed beta reading for their term paper. Usually Taeil says no but this was Mark. Mark who volunteered for every program because everyone is so hung on his talented being and the sweetest boy who worked hard to maintain his scholarship. At least Taeil can have a thirty-minute nap every one and a while because Mark always seemed to be too much in a hustle to close his eyes.

The paper was not bad really but Taeil felt that Mark wrote it overdosed on caffeine and sleep deprivation that his hands were just flying over the keyboard. The thought is there, the coherent sentences more or less workable but it’s like looking at a work that’s been done at the last second fueled by the deadline.

“Hyung, we’re going out for some doughnuts. Want some?” Johnny asked, pulling the blanket back over Taeil’s shoulders. By them, he must meant Doyoung, Yuta, Kun and Yukhei. They’re from his Economics class and they’re preparing for the project where they’re making homemade slime. He remembered last night as he was going to the fridge to munch on ice to keep awake when he passed by them filming underneath the table.

The screeching halt he made as he watched Kun kneading the slime, letting it slip between the gaps of his fingers and then crushing it with his palm. In front of him crouched awkwardly is Johnny holding the camera with Yukhei holding the ring light beside him. They’re discussing in hushed tones at first. Doyoung is saying something about editing some voice-over while Kun said in a deadpan voice “Like slapping and yelling Daddy?”

His soft “What the-“is caught and decided it was time to go back to the paper. Better the swirling vortex of caps lock and misplaced capitalization than the questionable advertisement his roommate might have had some say in.

Now, he yawned as he stretched his arms. “If you don’t mind,” he smacked his lips and added “Some latte might be nice too.”

Johnny patted his hair, a little chuckle escaping his lips “No more coffee for you, hyung. I’ll grab you some hot choco.” He said before he grabbed his keys and closed the door behind him.

Taeil stared at the door before rubbing his hands all over his face. He leaned back his chair before stretching again to get rid of the crick on his spine. Perhaps he can get some fresh air. It’s been awhile since he had a peaceful day like this. There’s no alert from his modified watch, the silence almost suspicious. The onslaught of sudden kidnappings from last week has him on edge. But there’s this niggling at the back that he want to see Sicheng and he slammed a hand on the table. Wincing, he cradled it to his chest at the sharp pain. That was not a good idea.

Grabbing his cardigan, he decided to get some of that much needed air.

For a city where super villains pop out at random to spread chaos, it’s always managed to look so clean and well-maintained. The street that Whiplash had blown up is halfway fixed, the traffic cones around the one side still being filled with concrete making him praise how efficient the repairers were. He continued walking until he reached the corner shop selling tabloids and stopped. He’s on the papers. Well, Strony was but it’s not important. He recognized the picture, a blurry shot of him jumping down to Whiplash as bombs detonated behind them. However, the article is about people asking if Strony and the super villains are conspiring. He’s trembling and twisting his lips to stop the anger from erupting. It’s the article a kid from the lower floor of the publishing company. He knows it well because he was tasked to read it over and proofread if he thought it was good enough. He also remembered throwing it because of the amount of insults in it about how Strony was basically going to topple the city by pretending to be a hero. Some crazy conspiracy whack that Taeil decided it was off to the shredder. The small pieces were thrown at the dumpster out back.

So why is he reading the first sentence that said Strony was the mastermind to all the uprising crime?

“Gossip’s only good when it’s a lie, you know.”

Taeil jumped a little as he backed away from the stand, hand over his heart. Sicheng chuckled at his reaction before gesturing to the papers.

“Those are all lies.” He said in a serious tone, nodding to himself like he would go to the grave with those words. It’s making something warm settle inside Taeil’s stomach as he stared at him.

He swallowed “Yeah. Totally agree with you there. It’s not like I wanted these super villains to be active.”

Sicheng laughed, covering his mouth “You’re not a fault, stranger.”

Reality hits Taeil like a bucket of ice cold water. He’s not Strony, defender of justice, right now. He’s Moon Taeil in unchanged clothes from two days ago, overworked and needing something to quench his throat. Sicheng doesn’t know who he is.

“Right,” he laughed a little too loudly “Strony is like my hero so I wanted to see him more and then these bad guys came out wrecking havoc!”  Wow. A+ acting skills. He can join Kun in his slime ASMR project role.

Sicheng either doesn’t notice or ignored the nervous answer as he walked past Taeil. Then stopped beside him, giving him a sympathetic pat on his arm and continued on down the street. He’s walking away like he doesn’t realize how much he’s affected Taeil.

The elder lightly hit his head at the thought, cursing himself “It’s better if he doesn’t know.”

His aching heart disagrees.

So it’s really justified that he scalded his tongue on the hot chocolate that Johnny gave him when he tried to down it in one go. The numbness of his tongue after that made it hard to relish the sweet Bavarian doughnut but it’s easy to concentrate on it to forget some things.

 

Taeil pretended that run in three days ago didn’t happen, ignoring the memories of when they met and don’t exchange words, just silent greetings, when they meet again. As Strony and Sicheng who’s perpetually getting kidnapped.

The superhero is stuck in a time loop this time. Seeing Sicheng in one corner but when he rushed there, he vanished. Only to reappear on the side of the building walking like it was nothing. Taeil is hissing underneath his breath whenever a steampunk robot came out of nowhere to try and pummel him, running out boomerangs. He might not have enough because there is nothing more draining than fighting someone who controlled time.

D-Time is sarcastic in his way of fighting. He’d make time slower when everyone’s in a hurry, walking leisurely and then just make a mess of the area before he makes time stop entirely then back up. The amount of times Taeil had his chin slam on the ground because he jumped then D-Time making sure to use his power to get out and put something in his place. There’s also the issue that he makes his metal minions fight Taeil. He’s powerful but he’s also vulnerable after using a huge amount of power. Taeil’s never seen him use it to this scale. It’s either about stopping for a limited time, rewinding to fix something or even forwarding so he can see the fails of their movement. But full-scale mind-bending affecting a whole area and creating some illusions by ripping fabric of time itself?

What is going on?

“Jesus, is this about that one time I said the D in D-Time meant Daddy? You said yourself that was true.” Taeil yelled to air, knowing he was heard as chuckling erupted around him. Another replica of Sicheng falls off a roof and Taeil’s heart plummeted to his stomach as he ran over. The minute he touched his arms, the boy disappeared and another string of curses escaped Taeil’’s mouth.

He’s almost at the end of his patience, taking deep breath and choking on it when something fell down from the sky onto him. He took out his staff, a scream at the tip of his tongue to defend himself before he managed to stop himself from hitting Sicheng right at his face. The younger blinked owlishly, mouth agape. The steel staff is inches from his nose that it would have seriously broken it if Taeil continued.

“Oh shit,” he said, clicking the mechanism to make the staff recede before he kneeled down to inspect any kind of damage on him “Are you okay?”

Sicheng shook his head, swallowing “I think my life just flashed before my eyes.” He confessed, hand clutching his chest.  His breaths became labored and Taeil is afraid to touch him.

“This place’s been playing tricks on me for awhile,” he shuddered at the thought of how many times he has to see fake Sicheng throw himself off buildings or almost impale on sharp points “Thank god, you’re real.”

“Are _you_ real?” Sicheng blurted out, eyes looking around “Because you’re right about this place being evil.”

Taeil nodded, finally touching Sicheng’s head to see if he has any scratches. Nothing he can see so he brushed off strands to get a better look, oblivious to the blush on Sicheng’s face. Is it just Taeil or does Sicheng has a pointy ear? He brushed the back of his hand on it and Sicheng squealed cutely. “Hyung!”

“Sorry!” he defended, moving away enough to give him air “I’m just worried.”

“It’s really nothing. I’m just kidnapped while you have to get hurt to save me.”

“It’s my job. Besides, I prefer you safe,” he said earnestly, hand touching his cheek with affection “You’ve been the sole target and these losers-“ he yelled the last part so D-Time can realize the mess he and his buddies made “-want you for god knows what.”

Sicheng mulled over it, thoughtful expression almost childish with his pout and furrowed brows. “I’m not rich. I’m definitely not a mastermind either and I have nothing that can help them.” He seemed sad about it.

“Whatever it is, I won’t let them put you in danger. It’s good that even without the whistle I saw you get taken. I mean, what were the odds?” Taeil told him. It was more of him seeing Sicheng as a civilian, their schedules almost the same now it seemed after the tabloid incident. They saw each other on coffee shops, waving and Sicheng putting a finger to his lips to keep their secret pact. Whenever he passed the gate of the school Sicheng went, he’d see the boy reading underneath a tree with some pale boy beside him. And they do cross paths at that corner store, winking at each other for their mutual agreement.

He has a crush on Sicheng as painful it is to admit.

Sicheng probably likes Strony but he also seems to like Taeil and sometimes it did cross his mind he might like them both. Because Taeil and Strony are one. It’s just him being so invested in what might happen if his identity is discovered.

Sicheng’s face became unreadable. He’s tilting his head, lips pursed. He’s contemplating, biting his lower lip before opening his mouth and then closing it again. It made Taeil nervous. By instinct, he leaned and Sicheng followed, a scarce distance between them that Taeil can feel his breath against his exposed skin.

“Hyung-“

“Sicheng-“

“Oh, for crying out loud!”

They jolted away. Their surroundings started to distort, the buildings melting away into the dock that Taeil doesn’t remember being in and the debris of steampunk minions littering around them. He whipped out his staff when he saw Dreamcatcher holding D-Time up, the latter groaning with his hands cradling his head. Whiplash is sitting on a crate eating an apple while Blizzard is texting.

What the hell.

“I wasted so much energy to make you realize you like him and then ask him out-“ D-Time groaned as he leaned his body onto Dreamcatcher’s smaller frame “But this! This is what we get? I’m so close to winning.”

Blizzard snorted, rolling his ice blue eyes clearly not amused. “You wish. You didn’t need to go overboard with the theatrics but you’re a drama queen so suck it.”

“He has a point.” Whiplash supplied.

Dreamcatcher shrugged with an agreement obvious on his face. D-Time has the audacity to look offended. “You came up with this plan to make him go out with someone so he’ll be less likely to mess with us!”

“Hey!” Taeil shrieked but was ignored even as he added “What does that mean?”

Whiplash took out a small round bomb and let it move around on his fingers “I did say we blow his dorm so they can room together.”

“No! Because where will I-“ D-Time shook his head, rephrasing “We’re not killing people despite how much the tabloids wants us to.”

“Killing is boring.” Blizzard said coldly, staring at Sicheng for some reason. But there’s no malice in it, Taeil might even say it looked like he was worried.

Dreamcatcher nodded, patting D-Time’s head “We’re vigilantes who want to fix a corrupt system and not have a body count at our tails.”

“Hard to get away from this after the long run after all,” Whiplash jumped down from where he was sitting, slipping and almost falling to his face if he hadn’t regained footing “Wait. Back to the topic.”

“I’m going to make sure you all are going to prison.” Taeil muttered darkly, pulling out two modified blasters he had commissioned from the Hare, black market dealer extraordinaire. He placed himself in front of Sicheng just in case there’d be complications. He’s tired; the strain on his mind from before not helping and these idiots bickering are worsening it. They looked back at him with a mixture of exasperation and confusion.

Blizzard is the one who cuts the atmosphere as he howled in laughter. Whiplash threw an exploding boomerang at him that froze mid-explosion as it clattered to the ground. “Fuck-“ he said, shoulders shaking with every laugh “Told you he was going to be mad with your timey-whimey shit, D.”

“There’s a thing called minding your own business.” Sicheng muttered from behind Taeil, rubbing his face in annoyance. Whiplash gasped.

“You weren’t going out after that disastrous blind date your dad set you up! How were we supposed to know he was some Japanese superhero? We paid for that restaurant’s repair for a whole month.”

Taeil almost let go of his weapons. “What did you say?”

Blizzard rolled his eyes, shooting a ray of ice that became a makeshift gag around Whiplash’s mouth. The latter’s screams are muffled as he clawed at the icicles while Blizzard smiled.

“You know, the usual matchmaking. We saw you’re lonely. I mean, being a superhero that is there whenever we wreck havoc like you don’t have someone waiting at home? We put two and two together,” Blizzard said, making moving ice shards representing the two dancing around. It flied around Sicheng’s head, Taeil flinching when the younger crushed it in his fist “He, on the other hand, has been a pain to the boss because he doesn’t want to make an alliance with strangers.”

“Wait. Boss?”

Sicheng hid his face on Taeil’s back, ears red. His fingers have found themselves clutching Taeil’s sleeve and it’s honestly the cutest thing. Maybe if he wasn’t freaking out that the kid’s a super villain, he might have reached out to touch his hand to reassure him. Except then Dreamcatcher is wiggling his brows at him as if he’s enjoying the discomfort on Taeil’s face.

“So you do have a secret!” Taeil’s outburst made Sicheng tighten his hold on his sleeve. Either to stop from running away or to just hold him who knows at this point.

Sicheng looked sheepish. “It’s not a secret when you never asked?”

“So what? This is some huge conspiracy that you all suddenly decided to kidnap your boss’ son and going against your code of no casualties to set me up with him?”

“To be fair, they didn’t tell me this either.” Sicheng protested.

“In retrospect, you two would have made it awkward and no one wants that.” Blizzard supplied before Sicheng took the blaster out of Taeil’s hand to shoot at his feet. It didn’t hit him but it did make him jump into air and crashing into Whiplash as they both fell to the floor.

There’s no prompting before Sicheng began shooting at each of them, relishing as Dreamcatcher dropped D-Time to avoid the ray. The sickening crunch that echoed as the latter’s jaw hit the floor made Dreamcatcher scream an apology as ducked again. Whiplash is rolling over Blizzard, crushing him and a shot is so close to hitting his face. It’s chaos because somewhere along the way, Sicheng has taken the other blaster and now hitting them at the feet as they scale the walls trying to escape. He has accuracy because he managed to make two collide and then when they tried to use their powers, he had deflected it enough to make them fall. Taeil is scared and impressed at the same time.

“Okay! We’re leaving!” Blizzard screamed from where he’s tangled with Dreamcatcher. Whiplash took out a bomb and lit it up, smoke surrounding the area already for Sicheng to hit him. Taeil covered his mouth with his hand, squinting to see where they were. Sicheng’s covering with his sleeve and rushed forward, only to discover they had disappeared.

The minute the smoke cleared, Sicheng let out a loud “I’m going to murder them all.”

Taeil choked on air. The younger boy ran a hand through his blonde hair, making it stand in all directions. There’s a line of sweat down his cheek that Taeil unconsciously brushed off. This made Sicheng turn to him in a jolt then shaking his head. “I didn’t mean- I swear that they’re just messing with you-My dad’s business is harmless! Most of the times-Oh god.” He stumbled over his excuses in lighting speed.

It’s endearing.

So Taeil just cupped his face with both hands and kneaded his cheeks with his thumbs. This made Sicheng’s eyes widen and Taeil smiled, heart racing as he gave a quick kiss on his cheek. “You’re so cute. So cute.”

Sicheng blushed, lips pursing. “I don’t know what to do when you know my secret.”

“Honestly, I should really be alarmed your dad’s shady but,” Taeil sighed, mulling over whether he should say before deciding fuck it “I am a firm believer to not let innocent parties be dragged to their family business when they have nothing to do with it…That is, if you are secretly working for them-“

There are hands around his wrists as Sicheng locked gazes with him. He looked serious, conviction in his voice as he said in a low tone “I am living a normal student who sleeps with his eyes open and passionate about dancing,” the edge of his lips quirked as he added “And I want to go out with this guy named Taeil sometime.”

Wait, what? His eyes almost popped out their sockets. Blood drained from his face, as he gaped. Maybe he can play stupid? He tried to form words, anything to deny. But Sicheng’s eyes are demanding honesty and he can’t deny that.

“How did you know?” Taeil stuttered, trying to think back at how they bumped on the corner store and hoped that it wasn’t then.

Sicheng’s not that forgiving however. “The day you defended yourself. I mean, well, Taeil defended Strony and thought I would be dumb enough to not notice.”

He flushed. “I swear that’s not what I meant.”

“It’s not unusual for people to think I’m oblivious,” Sicheng chuckled, heartbreaking to Taeil’s ears “But your Freudian slip’s so obvious, hyung.”

They stand in silence before Sicheng lowered his hands. Taeil felt his visor beeping and there’s a robbery on East Street, culprit heading south. He clicked his tongue, making a sound of discomfort “Duty is calling.” He said lamely.

Sicheng pouted and can he look even cuter? Taeil won’t be able to leave him at this point. “Raincheck?”

Taeil nodded before he reluctantly let go, hands dragging over the other’s as he took out his grappling hook and shot at the sky.

In a split second, Sicheng grabbed his neck to pull him to a short kiss.

It’s almost a smack, soft and sweet before Taeil is gaping as his hook dragged him up. He looked down at Sicheng waving from the ground with the brightest look on his face. The younger raised his whistle, a silent reminder he’ll know where to find him.

Taeil caught the robber and returned the purse to the kind old lady who gave him a cookie in return.  He’s walking on air when he went home after he changed, not asking why Johnny has an ice pack on his chin while some pixie-looking boy is bandaging his own face. He does wave at them in greeting before he goes to his room. Then he screamed into his pillow in elation.

There’s a lot to talk about, he knew. He’s letting someone inside the private life, overworked and always trying his best. Taeil’s never been more afraid of risks than he has now. But he wants to see Sicheng smile when he sings for him one day, shower him with compliments until his cheeks are red and see him in action as he fends for himself, strength in his body and determination in his eyes.

He can hardly wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: a superhero au where winwin is the “damsel in distress” and taeil is his “savior.” But in actuality all the evil villains are “kidnapping” winwin because taeil hasn’t gone on a date in five years and it’s honestly super sad (psst winwin is also best friends with all the super villains)


End file.
